March 11, 2011

March 11, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "Brad Brownell won nine Atlantic Coast Conference games this season, something no other first-year basketball coach at Clemson has done," begins a lengthy profile of the 1991 DePauw University graduate, which is published in several newspapers. The article details the coach's "rocket-like career trajectory" as his team begins play in the ACC tournament today after a 20-10 regular season.

Travis Sawchick writes, "Brownell was a point guard in high school. While not a great athlete, he was skilled enough to play small college basketball in DePauw for Royce Waltman. When Brownell later coached at Wright State and traveled to play conference foe Butler, his former DePauw coaches and teammates got together afterward in Indianapolis and reminisced about a 1-point loss in the 1990 Division III national title game. But it was a game earlier that year when Waltman saw Brownell's coaching potential. 'We won a triple-overtime game and the (opposing team) never got a shot off on their final two possessions,' Waltman said. 'He read the passer's eyes and stole the ball to end the overtimes. You would never accuse him of being fleet of foot, it was just from studying the other team and anticipation. Said Brownell: 'I could always see a play ahead.'"

The text adds, "Brownell became a graduate assistant under Waltman. He worked in a similar unpaid position for a year at Evansville, sleeping on a couch, and then at the University of Indianapolis for two years where Brownell split 'a dump of an apartment' with a fellow coach, paying $150 in rent."